Latin Heat’s ¡HOLA L.A.! TV Talk Show Also Get Some Red Carpet Attention
Bel Hernandez & Director Robert Rodriguez at the ALMA's
The 2012 NCLR ALMA Awards® airs on Friday, September 21st on NBC at 8PM. In addition to co-hosts Eva Longoria and Geroge Lopez, this year’s ALMA Awards features Hollywood’s top talent including Jake Gylenhaal, Christina Aguilera, Tyler Posey, Edgar Ramirez, and the Devious Maids. The NCLR ALMA Awards® also took the time to recognize their sponsors and community leaders. One of those receiving an honorary ALMA award was Latin Heat Media’s President/CEO Bel Hernandez Castillo in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the entertainment trade Latin Heat.
The ALMA’s this year also provided a backdrop for another celebration for Latin Heat which is producing the first and only English Language TV talk show, ¡HOLA L.A.! with a Latina POV. Hernandez Castillo would be walking down the Red Carpet as a co-host of ¡HOLA L.A.! along with the other co-hosts, Dyana Ortell (Curb Your Enthusiasm), actress Kikey Castillo and Emmy Award winning journalist Naibe Reynoso-Hodsden.
HOLA! L.A. Ladies: Kikey Castillo, Bel Hernandez, Dyana Ortelli and Naibe Neynoso
The ladies of ¡HOLA L.A.! were promoting their new talk fest program to premiere on KCAL-9/KCBS-2 on September 30th at 5:00PM. What Hernandez didn’t know was that she and Latin Heat would become part of the show, when she was surprised with an ALMA statute for the twenty years of excellence in covering Latinos in Hollywood.
“Bel is such an inspiration for all Latina women in the entertainment industry,” said Naibe Reynoso-Hodsden, a co-host of ¡HOLA L.A.! “By creating Latin Heat twenty years ago, she was ahead of her time and took a leadership role in ensuring Latino talent and Latino projects had the media coverage they deserved. She continues to work tirelessly to make sure the Latino presence in Entertainment is not a wimper but a roar. Her ALMA Award is not only well deserved, it’s overdue! Congrats, Bel!”
“It was truly a beautiful moment when I saw Bel receive her Alma Award. She works so tirelessly to recognize the wonderful achievements of others and at that moment – it was her turn!” said actress and ¡HOLA L.A.! co-host Kikey Castillo.
“I was truly floored when I was taken backstage to “interview NCLR’s President and CEO Janet Murgia”. Instead they handed me an ALMA award and Janet congratulated me as we posed for pictures before being taken on stage to be recognized as part of the ALMA Awards pre-show,” said Hernandez Castillo. “My head is still spinning”
¡HOLA L.A.! co-host and comedian Ortelli was excited for Latin Heat’s recognition. “For me, the highlight of the ALMA Awards was seeing my life-long friend, fellow activist/guerrileras, and co-host of our newest project, ¡HOLA L.A.!… being recognized for her two decades of services, hard work and dedication to promoting more and better images of Latinos in the entertainment industry through Latin Heat. Congratulations, on a long overdue ALMA Award, Bel!”
The Latin Heat trade publication came out of a protest organized by Latina actresses in 1992 to protest the lack of roles offered to Latinos. The quarterly newsletter eventually evolved into a printed monthly for 15 years. Latin Heat Online launched in 2005 http://www.latinheat.com and has become the Hollywood standard in Latinos in entertainment reporting.
“Latin Heat would not exist and have survived for 20 years had it not been for my life partner and husband Enrique Castillo, Latin Heat’s co-founder Loyda Ramos and our in-the-trenches editor-in-chief, Elia Esparza. I share the ALMA Award with them and all the persons who have contributed throughout the years…too many to list, but you know who you are.”
Hernandez Castillo is President and CEO of Latin Heat Media, a multi-media company that publishes Latin Heat magazine and are producers of ¡HOLA L.A.! She is also one of the author’s of 8 Ways To Say I Love My Life which hits the stands on November 30th of this year Hernandez Castillo is also a popular leader and speaker on the topic of Latinos in entertainment.
Covering Latino Hollywood since 1992
Latin Heat Media (LHM) is a multi-media company dedicated to the production of media for the exploding U.S. Latino market and to delivering universal themed projects about the Latino experience to all audiences. Through its various properties which include Latin Heat print magazine founded in 1992; an online magazine established in 1998; a film, TV and internet production division; and a consultancy group, LHN has the opportunity leverage our expertise in the different areas to the full benefit of our project. Current projects include the talk show ¡HOLA L.A.! in partnership with KCAL9/CBS2; Let’s Talk! a web series talk show; the indie film The Last Angry Brown Hat and a theatrical production of Veteranos: A Legacy of Valor.
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